Dal Khichdi is Indian lentil and rice, wholesome one-pot meal. This vegetarian Indian food recipe is a gluten-free, vegetarian, nourishing, comforting and incredibly tasty meal you can make in 30 minutes or less.
Dal Khichdi recipe is super easy and simple Indian dish to make. An easy to digest meal this one-pot rice and lentil dish is perfect original comfort food. You can make khichdi in Instant pot pressure cooker, or rice cooker.
Best way to enjoy Dal Khichdi is with ghee, pickle, papad, and plain yogurt/ raita. You can serve it for a nutritious lunch or for a healthy dinner on a busy day.
Comforting Healthy Meal in Minutes
This is the very first meal in minutes that we all learn to make. A perfect meal that brings out nostalgia of days gone by when a warm bowl of khichdi was a comfort meal on cold winter nights of Shillong.
My husband was posted there and we used to live in a military station on beautiful Shillong peak in the late '90s. I was pregnant with my second child and this used to be one of the most comforting one-pot meal because in those days we used to get fresh grocery supplies every 15 days and that day used to be a total feast for us!
That makes it one of the most special meals for me! As it brings a rush of memories when life was simple and so was food! This bowl of Dal khichdi was the perfect recipe for lunch or dinner on a cold night when there was not much stock left in the pantry.
Now enough of this Nostalgia and why I love khichdi lets talk about how to make it!
About this Khichdi Recipe
- It is one pot vegetarian rice and lentil dish.
- It is gluten-free and you can make a vegan version by replacing ghee with coconut oil or vegetable oil.
- To make it even healthier you can add finely chopped veggies.
- You can use a variety of lentils to make khichdi.
What is Khichdi?
Think about khichdi as a one-pot casserole dish from Indian cuisine which is cooked with rice and lentils. In some of the versions, vegetables are also cooked along with rice and lentils.
Many types of khichdi are prepared in various regions of India. We all have our different versions of making this humble one-pot lentil and rice dish. The texture of khichdi varies in different versions of khichdi.
Porridge like khichdi is made in some areas and in some regional versions khichdi looks almost like a pulao.
Most communities in India have their own favourite Khichdi recipe. Bengali's call it Khichuri and enjoy it with Aloo bhaja or Baingan bhaja. In UP toor dal khichdi is preferred.
Punjabi moong dal khichdi recipe is prepared with moong and rice. To prepare this either Split green moong dal or yellow moong dal is cooked with rice. South Indian style, lentil and rice meal is Sambar Sadam
I have shared these 7 types of Khichdi Recipes that you can try for a variety!
Khichdi is also known by other names Khichri, khichdi, khichadi, Khichri or khichuri. Call it by any name, dal khichdi is nourishing wholesome, tasty and also pretty easy to digest.
How to Make Dal Khichdi?
Ingredients for Dal Khichdi
For preparing khichdi, you need dal or lentils and rice along with very basic spices and ghee (optional). In this recipe, I am using Dal and white rice.
DAL/Lentils - To make different types of khichdi, different types of dal or lentils are used. You use, Yellow moong dal, Pink masoor (red lentils), toor dal or arhar dal (Yellow lentils/split pigeon peas), Urad dal etc to prepare the dish.
On special occasions like Sankranti Chana dal khichdi is cooked. In North India arhar/toor dal is preferred.
In this recipe I am making it with moong dal. Mung dal is easy to digest, light and protein-packed lentil. Ayurveda suggests, it balance all three elements in the body. It is a light and nourishing meal for everyone.
RICE - the beauty of this delicious dish is you can use any variety of rice to make khichdi. I use white short-grain rice or basmati rice to make it, because texture-wise it all comes together. If you are a diabetic or following a weight loss diet you can cook brown rice khichdi.
Ghee - Ghee is a good fat you should not miss in this recipe. For making Vegan Khichdi you can add cashew butter, that also taste good.
Watch Quinoa Moong Dal Khichdi Recipe Video
What To Serve with Khichdi?
A warm bowl of khichdi is served with ghee, curd, papad, pickle on the side. There is a popular saying in India " Khichdi ke char yaar, ghee, papad, dahi, achar). That means, khichdi tastes best with these four 🙂 so next time when you make it you know that What do you serve with khichdi?
Recipe Notes and Tips
- You can add chopped veggies like potatoes, onion, peas and carrots etc.
- You can add Soya granules/ TVP to make high protein khichdi.
- Garam masala powder adds a nice warm taste.
- Hing/asafoetida makes it easy to digest and it is especially good in winters.
More Khichdi Recipes for You to Try
If you love Indian khichdi, you must try these khichdi recipes. All of these have video recipes to make them easy for you to cook and enjoy!
- Masala Khichdi - Gujarati Khichdi
- Quinoa and Moong dal Khichdi
- Chana dal Vegetable khichdi - Bhuni Khichdi
- Sambhar Sadam - South Indian Khichdi
- Sabudana Khichdi
Khichdi recipe - Dal Khichdi
Ingredients
- ½ cup moong dal
- ¾ cup Rice basmati rice
- 2 tablespoons Ghee
- 1 teaspoon grated Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon hing/ asafoetida
- 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
- ½ teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 1.5 teaspoons Salt
- 5 cups Water
Instructions
Khichdi in Pressure Cooker
- To prepare the Dal Khichdi, first clean, rinse and soak the lentil and rice in water for 10 – 15 minutes.
- Wash and soak rice in a separate bowl as well. ( However if you are in a hurry, you can totally skip soaking step because these all are quick cooking lentils and pressure cook fast)
- Drain out water from lentils and rice and keep them aside.
- In a pressure cooker, heat ghee or oil add cumin seeds, and allow them to splutter for 1-2 minutes.
- Add ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and a dash of garam masala.
- Now tip in lentils and rice in the pressure cooker, and saute for 2-3 minutes to glaze the rice and dal with ghee and spices.
- Add 4 cups of water in the pressure cooker and stir all the ingredients to mix them nicely.
- Pressure cook dal khichdi for 2-3 whistles over medium to low heat.Allow it to cool naturally before opening the lid of pressure cooker.
- To be safe first check that all steam is escaped from the pressure cooker and then open the lid.Serve this khichdi piping hot in a bowl.
- Top it with small dollop of ghee and serve along with raita, papad, salad or sliced onions. ENJOY!
INSTANT POT KHICHDI
- You can easily make khichdi in an Instant pot. All you need to do is follow first 3 steps given in above method.
- Switch on the IP on saute mode and in the inner pot of instant pot add ghee.
- Next add cumin seeds, and ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and a dash of garam masala.
- Add lentils and rice in the Instant pot, and saute for 2-3 minutes to glaze the rice and dal with ghee and spices.
- Add 4 cups of water in the instant pot and stir all the ingredients to mix them nicely.
- Cook on medium pressure mode for 5 minutes.
- Allow the natural release of pressure for 5 minutes and then bring the valve to venting position for steam to escape entirely.
- Open the instant pot and enjoy warm bowl of Khichdi in 10 or so minutes if you make khichdi in the Instant pot.
Video
Notes
- You can add chopped veggies like potatoes, onion, peas and carrots etc.
- You can add Soya granules/ TVP to make it even more protein-rich.
- Garam masala powder adds a nice warm taste.
- Hing/asafoetida makes it easy to digest and it is especially good in winters.
Pansy
Hi
"Rekha Kakkar" You are posting great foods "Khichdi" thats my favourite food Thank you great man
Rekha Kakkar
Thank you 🙂 I hope you will give it a try 🙂
Piyali Ghosh
This is exactly how my mother cooks. So delicious Mam. 🙂
Rekha Kakkar
Always a pleasure to eat khichdi simple but always so comforting and delicious.
Apurwa Bijlani
I love khichdi. It is so so easy and yummy.
Rekha Kakkar
Rice in any form is good even humble khichdi is sooo good!
Huma Hansnandini
This is a great website with such easy and great recipes.
Rekha Kakkar
thank you 🙂
Maryann
Love this recipe. Will surely try it next week.
Priyanka Khosla
Hi, how much water should be added for brown rice khichadi in instant pot? Thanks!